Abbott Nutrition reopened its Sturgis, Michigan baby formula manufacturing facility whose closure sparked a nationwide baby formula shortage and prompted the revocation of Trump-era international trade sanctions that stopped supplies from being imported, Politico reports.
In a conference call with FDA officials, an Abbott representative said that the plant restarted operations July 1st, without any public announcement. The factory, which makes about 20% of the domestically made baby formula, started by making the specialty formula Elecare, a hypoallergenic formula for children who cannot tolerate certain types of proteins.
Typically, such a shortfall could easily be made up by importing formula from other nations, like Canada and Mexico. However, Donald Trump destroyed the North American Free Trade Agreement and put significant barriers and tariffs in place that blocked the importation of baby formula to fill the need. As it renegotiates those agreements, the Biden Administration has instituted an emergency plan to import formula from Europe and other sources.